And now for something completely different...

Dame Aoife, ever the eclectic, graces us this week with a list of links that didn't fit into any of her multitude of catalogs, but are intersting nonetheless. Here are the odds and ends, for your edification.

Greetings, my Faithful Readers!

Sometimes I run out of inspiration for this weekly (sort of) column. This
week, what you're getting is a compilation of weird things I've been
collecting...definitely "completely different" from my usual columns. With
the dulcet tones of South Park screaming from my living room, it seemed a
week for the strange to prevail. So, can you trust the article on
Elizabethan Toilet paper? Do you care if folding knives are medieval? Did
you ever wonder about ancient condoms? Have trouble reconciling your parasol
with your persona? Wonder what sort of medieval pick-up line would work
best for you? Read on to find out. But be warned: SOME of this list is
serious but uncataloged. And some of is pure crrrrrrraaaaaapppp!

History of Folding Knives(yep, they're medieval according to this site)
http://web.indstate.edu/community/vchs/ht/ht052586.htm(Site Excerpt) Folding knives probably were invented for protection. The
blades could disappear into the handle and only be brought out when the
owner needed to use it. Folding knives were known to the ancient Romans but
their popularity grew rapidly during the Middle Ages. Knives with two blades
that folded did not become common until the 18th century. The pocketknife, a
small folding knife, became popular when pockets were added to trousers.
Also See:
The History of Portable Eating Utensilshttp://www.hospitalityguild.com/History/history_of_portable_Eating_Utens...(Site Excerpt) A folding pocket knife, perhaps the consummately portable
multi-purpose tool, was first made in the 1st Century by the Romans to be
used on journeys of exploration or conquest. As the popularity of sheathed
knives grew, the manufacture of pocket knives waned. By the late 16th
Century, however, pocket knives began to regain popularity especially in
America. Unlike sheathed knives, which were generally conspicuous and
sometimes cumbersome, pocket knives were easily, safely, and invisibly
carried in the pocket like the knife on the left. Men of all trades, from
farmers to academics, carried pocket knives to aid in various tasks,
including eating on the go.

BBC: World's Oldest Condomshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3228255.stm(Site Excerpt) The oldest known condoms in the world - 17th Century
creations made of animal and fish intestine - are to leave the UK to be
displayed at a Dutch sex exhibition. The five contraceptives were excavated
from a medieval toilet in Dudley Castle in 1985 - they are thought to have
lain there since before 1646.

How medieval feet suffered for their shoeshttp://www.mirabilis.ca/archives/002027.html(Site Excerpt) The shocking evidence for the mutilation caused by the late
medieval fashion for extremely pointy long-toed shoes is lying on an
archaeologist's desk in Portsmouth. The distortion of the bones is so
extreme that he first thought he was looking at the ravages of disease.

History of the Kilthttp://www.majestictech.com/the-celtic-net/kilthistory.html(Site Excerpt) It is generally recognised that the first tartans were the
result of individual weavers own designs, then were slowly adopted to
identify individual districts, then finally clans and families. The first
recognisable effort to enforce uniformity throughout an entire clan was in
1618, when Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, wrote to Murry of Pulrossie
requesting that he bring the plaids worn by his men into "harmony with that
of his other septs."

History of Men's grooming (and make-up!)http://www.4voo.com/education/ed_history.htm(Site excerpt) There is evidence that the Vikings also liked to wear make-up
as the Arab traveler Ibrahim Al-Tartushi who visited the Viking trading hub
of Hedeby in 950AD wrote: "there is also an artificial make-up for the eyes,
when they use it beauty never fades, on the contrary it increases in men and
women as well". What he was observing was probably the use of kohl as men's
makeup

Viking Age Human Sacrificehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice#Viking_Age_sacrifice(Site Excerpt) Norse warriors were sometimes buried with slave girls with
the belief that the women would become their wives in Valhalla. A detailed
eyewitness account of such a burial was given by Ahmad ibn Fadlan as part of
his account of an embassy to the Volga Bulgars in 921. In his description of
the funeral of a Rus' notable, a slave girl volunteers to die with her
master. After ten days of festivities, she is stabbed to death by an old
woman (a sort of priestess who is referred to as 'Angel of Death') and burnt
together with the deceased in his boat (see ship burial, Oseberg).

Wickipedia: Medieval European Toilet "paper"????http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Bishonen/European_toilet_paper_holder#...(Site Excerpt) The Dark Ages of Early Medieval Europe are the subject to
great speculation that is unsuited to a scholarly account of this nature.
The first reliable information about specialised bathroom facilities in
post-Conquest England comes from contemporary accounts of the Peasants'
Revolt. Believing that John of Gaunt was responsible for the shortage of
hemp and linen essential to the manufacture of comfortable toilet paper, the
rioters abandoned their leader Wat Tyler in 1381 and demolished London's
Savoy Palace. This sumptuous dwelling was famous for John of Gaunt's
collection of paper goods and ornamental bathroom fittings.

Politics of Racial hatredhttp://salmonriver.com/issues/inquisition.html(Site Excerpt) The origin of The Inquisition, which insisted heretics be
stripped of wealth and life, was firmly established in the early 1200s.
Gregory IX, declared general legislation in which the penalties of death,
banishment and confiscation of property were formulated so clearly as to be
incontestable. No mention of torture. Catholic bishops could subject their
towns to the full rigor of imperial laws and answer to no one.

Put a tiger in your trunks:
Edible aphrodisiacsby Bob Bankard
http://www.phillyburbs.com/valentine/potions/aphrodesiac.shtml(Site Excerpt) Aphrodisiacs have been around before written history, and
have changed very little in form, utility and logic ever since. For the most
part, you could consider their various forms as 'gilt' by association; they
either worked well for the animal who used it, before you severed it from
it source, or it has a certain visual resemblance to the parts you hope to
inspire.

Stefan's Florilegium: Humor-msghttp://www.florilegium.org/Click Uncataloged (at the bottom of the menu), and then Humor-msg. While
you're at it, look at some of the other uncataloged items.

Bodger & Grift's Medieval Pickup Lineshttp://jvj.com/bandgpic.html(Site Excerpt) You should be glad I'm not a Viking. You would have been ravaged and plundered by now.
What's a nice maiden like you doing in a dungeon like this?
Come up and see my scrolls.